Tom Teach’s commitment to Be The Match® started when his 4-year old grandson, Ben, was diagnosed with ALL and AML. Ben received a bone marrow transplant and for nearly six beautiful months after, Ben laughed and smiled as a cancer-free little boy. But when Ben’s leukemia returned, nothing could be done. Tom and his family said goodbye to their sweet boy in February 2015.

Today, Tom is a dedicated member of the Foundation’s board and a passionate champion of Be The Match. Tom is a Navy veteran and he and his son spoke at the Naval Academy and with the help of the Department of Defense, recruited more than 700 potential donors to the Be The Match Registry®. Tom continues to participate in leadership roles at registry drives at the Naval Academy. As a Notre Dame alum, he utilizes his contacts to raise awareness and help recruit registry members at Notre Dame games. He has also extended his efforts to Goshen College and Bethel College.

In addition, Tom has become a tireless fundraiser for Be The Match Foundation®. He helps acquire key sponsorships for the Be The Match Walk+Run event and participates with his friends and family as “Team Ben.” Over the past three years, his team has raised more than $165,000 for the Chicago Be The Match Walk+Run.

“Tom’s service to Be The Match is an excellent example of true volunteerism,” says Nicole Kersting, Senior Development Manager at Be The Match. “In addition to his recruitment and fundraising efforts, he is willing to step in with any in-kind request large or small through his foam packaging company.”

The impact Tom continues to have on patients and their loved ones is huge. Due to Tom’s efforts, more patients are able to get a second chance at life.

Two young fathers, Joe (far left) and Justin (far right), used their first-time marrow donor-recipient meeting on Good Morning America to draw attention to another young father’s search for a marrow donor. They’re helping spread the word about Tamino (center) whom they met at the inaugural NYC Be The Match Walk+Run.

In September, ABC’s Good Morning America broadcast a special first-time meeting of a Staten Island, NY man who beat lymphoma and the Dallas marrow donor who helped him do it. Unbeknownst to them, they led parallel lives: both 35, married and each a father with young children.

The title: “Dad” means everything to both of these men. So, it was no surprise that as excited as they were to meet, they turned their good news into an effort to help another young father searching for a marrow donor.

The dads are spreading the word about Tamino, a father from NYC suffering from Severe Aplastic Anemia. They’re asking others to join the Be The Match Registry® online in hopes of finding Tamino a life-saving marrow donor so he can watch his one-year-old son, Matteo, grow up. Currently there is no match for Tamino on the Be The Match Registry. He is of Brazilian, French, Italian, Bolivian and Colombian ancestry.

“No child should grow up without a father, not if we can help it,” said Justin Jenkins the Dallas dad who donated marrow so Staten Island father Joe Yannantuono could watch his 4-year-old grow up.

“Let’s find Tamino a marrow donor. Help teach his young son, Matteo that the world may be big, but it’s full of people willing to stop what they’re doing for a moment to help a little boy in Queens who needs his daddy.” Join the registry online at join.bethematch.org/tamino.

Share this message and help spread the word. If you’re not a match for Tamino, you may match one of the thousands of other patients battling blood diseases and searching for their cure.

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About Us

For people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma or other diseases, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with their donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant.